Stacked convolutional auto-encoders for surface recognition based on 3d point cloud data

This paper addresses the problem of feature extraction for 3d point cloud data using a deep-structured auto-encoder. As one of the most focused research areas in human–robot interaction (HRI), the vision-based object recognition is very important. To recognize object using the most common geometry feature, surface condition that can be obtained from 3d point cloud data could decrease the error during the HRI. In this research, the surface normal vectors are used to convert 3D point cloud data to a surface-condition-feature map, and a sub-route stacked convolution auto-encoder (sCAE) is designed to classify the difference between the surfaces. The result of the trained filters and the classification of sCAE shows the surface-condition-feature and the specified sCAE are very effective in the variation of surface condition.